1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for processing data. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for viewing information from different data sources.
2. Background
The Internet is a global network of computers and networks joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfers. On the Internet, any computer may communicate with any other computer with information traveling over the Internet through a variety of languages, also referred to as protocols. The Internet has revolutionized communications and commerce and many businesses have presences online, in the form of websites. Further, many federal, state, and local government agencies also employ Internet sites for free information purposes and transacting business.
In addition to providing information, the Internet also is used for many commercial transactions as well as exchanging information. Businesses, government agencies, and other organizations maintain information that is considered confidential or trade secret. For example, information, such as credit information, financial information, health records, and classified government information are important to safeguard from unauthorized access.
The protection of this and other types of confidential or sensitive information becomes more and more important because of different threats that arise with increased connectivity between different computers and networks. Examples are hackers or other users who obtain unauthorized access to computer systems to steal, tamper with, or corrupt information. Further, in some cases, poor planning of networks results in an unintended dissemination or publication of information that may be considered confidential or trade secret.
Various commercial and government organizations recognize the presence of these and other threats to their information. One step taken to avoid these problems is to implement secure separated networks. These types of networks have no connection to other networks and as a result, provide a highest level of protection against data theft and maximize confidentiality of data. One draw back of an isolated network, however, is a user is prevented from exchanging messages with others outside of the private network and searching or accessing information outside of the network also is prevented. This situation may prevent users from performing valuable research on the Internet.
To gain access to other sources, current solutions include using separate computers for different levels of data. In other words, one computer may be connected to one network, while another computer is connected to the other network. These two computers have no ability to exchange data with each other. For example, one computer may display information from an unprotected source, such as the Internet, while another computer may display data that is present on a secure network that has no external access. With these two displays, a user is able to see both types of data and access information from different sources.
Other solutions include merging data onto a single computer, which creates a video display at the higher of the two security levels. In this type of system, software is used to manage the separation of unsecured and secured data.
By keeping data and video images separated on different computer display systems, more difficulty and time is needed to mentally correlate, understand, and interpret the meanings and implications of the separate data. Further, this type of solution requires two separate display systems.
Merging digital data onto a single computer system provides a possibility that the software system is unable to keep the data separate. In other words, an absence of confidence that sources of publicly available or unclassified data will not be accidentally contaminated with confidential classified data is present. Further, many government agencies and regulations do not authorize or allow for such a solution because of the potential for accidentally leaking classified data in an unclassified report.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that provides for improved data security without the problems discussed above.